Atlanta Hawks: Top 20 plays of the 2018-19 NBA season

It’s been a long season for the Atlanta Hawks, but this young team has provided fans with some memorable highlights in 2018-19.

As the 2018-19 NBA season comes to a close, the Atlanta Hawks find themselves in an interesting situation. While they aren’t what you would call a “good” team, their young core has made significant strides and given fans hope that this team franchise will develop into a playoff team within the next year or so.

Yes, their defense and 3-point shooting need to improve, but given the progress that players like rookie point guard Trae Young and second-year forward/center John Collins have made under head coach Lloyd Pierce, the future looks fairly bright.

Their present, however, was filled with more forgettable moments than anything else; there’s a reason why this team has lost over 50 games this year. Still, in an 82-game season, even the worst teams stumble into some replay-worthy highlights, be it a flashy pass, cool dunk, scintillating comeback win or, in the case of the New York Knicks, scoring a basket in your own net.

Given the Hawks’ station in the league — a team that clearly isn’t a contender, but hasn’t reached the laughingstock levels that a franchise like the Phoenix Suns has — finding 20 highlights from an otherwise moribund 2018-19 campaign wasn’t as hard as you may think. These plays encapsulate Atlanta’s ambitions for seasons to come.